Drug overdoses killed approximately 72,000 people in in the United States in 2017. This was an increase of 10% from 2016. The two reasons cited are (1) Americans continue to use opioids in increasing numbers, and (2) there are more powerful, deadlier, synthetic opioids available in the underground marketplace—mainly fentanyl, which is 100 times stronger than morphine. While the latter is the primary cause of fatalities, there is a connection between the two explanations.
It is established that of those who die of opioid overdoses, 80% started their use/abuse of these drugs with a prescription for pharmaceutical painkillers: for football injuries, work injuries, post-surgical pain, dental issues. Too many medical doctors prescribe these drugs routinely.Read the rest of this entry »
Ricky is interviewed by Michael Finney, consumer affairs reporter for Channel 7 Bay Area and KGO Radio, about his article “A Rationale For a Single Payer Health Care System.”
We are currently in the midst of the most lethal drug epidemic in our country’s history. One of the shocking things about this crisis is that it has been going on for the past 20 years without showing any signs of letting up. In 2016, overdoses involving opioids killed more than 42,000 people. Of those deaths, 40% were from prescription opioids. (Statistics are still being finalized for 2017.)
Several recent books describe the evolution of this epidemic, each from a slightly different perspective.* I’ll focus on just one of them here.Read the rest of this entry »
Real change is coming to our health insurance system. This is inevitable for the simple reason that the system, as it stands, is not sustainable. Premiums and deductibles keep rising, way beyond the rate of inflation. Drug prices also rise, as do hospital and medical device costs.
In 2010 President Obama pushed through his landmark legislation, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which enabled millions of previously uninsured people to get health insurance for the first time. But the model was still rooted in the same private insurance system, and dominated by the usual players: Aetna, United Health Care, Cigna and the “Blues”. So there was little reason to expect the inflationary trends to slow down.Read the rest of this entry »
For quite some time, I have been thinking about writing a book. I believe I have a unique perspective on health and healing and that this perspective might be interesting and useful to others. After all, I’ve been in practice for more than 30 years. I’ve taught undergrad and graduate level coursework in the history and philosophy of science, as well as complementary and integrative medicine. I’ve worked as a chiropractor in private practice, public health, and occupational (worker compensation) medical settings. My experience has been broad and deep in the field of integrative health. And I definitely have a point of view!
But the more I thought about my book, the more pause I took. My friends have written books. Some are established authors with reputable publishers, and are paid in advance for their work. But most are people who—like me— want to write to express something they have been carrying within themselves; to articulate their unique perspective. Many in the latter group may spend years on the project, self-publish their work, and, at the end of this long process, have 20 or 30 of their friends and relatives buy the book. The rest may go into storage, or be given away. (Of course, there’s always the possibility that the book might become a great bestseller, and one might join the ranks Dr. Oz or Deepak Chopra. But there’s an even better possibility that those books will stay on the shelf.)Read the rest of this entry »
Part of my frustration, as I watch the current health care debate, is realizing that most of those charged with reforming our economy simply do not understand the health care system. This holds true from the House of Representatives up to the Presidency.
The health care sector is one sixth of the US economy. Those making decisions need to be educated about how this behemoth works. What are the cost drivers? Where are the inefficiencies? What are the relationships between interest groups—such as the pharmaceutical, medical device, hospital and insurance lobbies—and legislators in Washington, DC? Read the rest of this entry »
On September 13, 2017, Bernie Sanders—the Independent Democratic Socialist—stood with fifteen Democrats and introduced the “Medicare-For-All Act”, HR 676. Bernie has been introducing varying versions of this legislation for many years; but without any co-sponsors.
